Providence honors shooting victims with Nike tribute jerseys

Dec. 19, 2012
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Providence left several upper-level seats empty and placed green ribbons on the chairs to honor Sandy Hook Elementary victims while a banner over the seats read, "Newtown, Connecticut: We Have You In Our Thoughts and Prayers." / Photo courtesy of @ChelseaJana via Twitter

by Scott M Gleeson, USA TODAY Sports

by Scott M Gleeson, USA TODAY Sports

By now, we've seen a plethora of touching tributes from athletes at all levels for the victims in the Newtown, Conn., shooting.

We've seen markered shoes, helmets and even faces honoring Sandy Hook Elementary, where 20 students and six teachers and caretakers were killed on Friday.

Providence coach Ed Cooley, who coached at Fairfield (only 25 miles away from Newtown), wanted to do something special in memory of the deaths. So, he called Nike for customized jerseys in Tuesday's game vs. Colgate. And the shoe company obliged.

The team's jerseys had "Sandy Hook" stitched on the back to replace the players' last names. Providence's school colors are silver and black, but the Nike jerseys were green and white to match Sandy Hook's school colors.

"I wanted to do something to honor those victims," Cooley said via The Associated Press after his team's 79-45 rout of Colgate. "It made me feel really, really special that that was able to happen."